


Her Lady

by ba_lailah



Category: Original Work
Genre: Age Difference, Cunnilingus, Enthusiastic Consent, F/F, Public Nudity, Public Sex, Ritual Public Sex, Royalty, Submission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-16
Packaged: 2020-10-19 19:33:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20662562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ba_lailah/pseuds/ba_lailah
Summary: A warrior queen agrees to give a peaceful people her protection—if they give her their princess as tribute.





	Her Lady

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ashling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashling/gifts).

Since Princess Jaera of Tall Pines was a small girl, she had been captivated by the stories of Feluri, warrior queen of Golden Sands, who had led her forces to victory time and time again. In Jaera's nineteenth year, Queen Feluri brought her army to the border of Tall Pines, and Jaera selfishly hoped there would be war so she could admire Queen Feluri's prowess in the flesh. But the people of Tall Pines were few and peaceful, and they could never hope to withstand an invasion. Jaera's mother, Queen Raela, capitulated without a battle. She even negotiated to retain her place as leader—ruling in the name of Queen Feluri, but ruling all the same. All Queen Feluri requested was that Tall Pines acknowledge her as their queen, place themselves under her protection, and send her tribute.

Everyone knew what sort of tribute Queen Feluri liked, and what she liked to do with them. Those stories made Jaera tremble with longing that she disguised as fear.

"Be brave," her mother told her, squeezing her hand. "They say she tires quickly of each girl, and once her attention has turned to another, you will be free to do as you like so long as you never marry. You might even be allowed to come home."

Jaera murmured agreement, but she harbored a secret hope of being the girl Queen Feluri would want to keep by her side forever.

Captain Daruni, Queen Feluri's second-in-command, negotiated the treaty. Jaera forgot all her manners and openly stared the first day the captain strode into Queen Raela's audience chamber, dressed in the formal clothing of the Golden Sands people: a light circle skirt that covered her from waist to knees, and two thin leather straps that crossed her from right shoulder to left hip. She was tall and wiry and her bare skin showed an assortment of scars. Jaera, covered neck to ankle in the Tall Pines fashion, had never seen anything like it. Her dreams that night were feverish. 

The morning after the treaty was signed, Captain Daruni showed up at Jaera's door with a beautifully made formal outfit and an agenda for her training. For the next three days, she drilled Jaera like a soldier, teaching the proud princess the proper forms for abasing herself before the victorious queen.

"Kneel."

Jaera clasped her hands behind her back and sank to her knees, back straight but head bowed. The stone floor of Captain Daruni's chamber made her uncovered shins ache. 

"Honor."

She bent from the waist and pressed her forehead to the floor. Her heavy breasts sagged against the cold stone, and her nipples crinkled tightly. She suppressed a shiver.

"Rise."

She rose gracefully to her feet, looking down at the floor.

Captain Daruni made a small noise of grudging approval. "You'll do," she said. "You may look up now."

Jaera exhaled softly with relief. Her heart was racing. She willed it to slow down, but it was hard to contain her excitement. 

She still had not seen the woman who had haunted her dreams and now owned her life. "If you please," she said, "when will my lady arrive?"

"Your lady?" The captain laughed. "You're hers, but don't get it in your head that she's yours."

"Forgive me," Jaera said, bowing. It was hard to take such a humble role when she had been raised to accept such submission from others, but her mother had stressed the importance of deference to their conquerors. "How should I refer to Queen Feluri?"

"As Queen Feluri, or the queen. And she's not coming here. She doesn't waste time with people who won't fight her. I have a treaty with Governor Raela's mark on it, and I have you. That's all she needs."

It was so strange to hear her mother called Governor, even stranger than hearing herself called Lady rather than Princess. She bit her lip. Her fantasies of being personally conquered by Queen Faleri had always omitted the elements of humiliation and loss.

Captain Daruni either didn't notice her discomfort or ignored it. "We depart tomorrow," she said. "The queen is spending the next two months at her winter camp on Sunrise Shore, and you'll attend her there."

Jaera bowed again, unable to speak. Sunrise Shore was twelve days' ride away, assuming they would travel with baggage and supply wagons. She had no idea how she would survive the wait.

The captain glanced at her. "You're looking forward to this, aren't you? I can tell."

Jaera's startled blush was as good as an answer.

"Don't worry, I won't tell your mother." Captain Daruni winked. "The queen likes her ladies eager. I can tell you some stories along the way."

"Oh, yes, please," Jaera breathed.

Captain Daruni laughed. "That's the spirit."

The captain was as good as her word and told one raunchy story after another of Queen Feluri and her many, many maidens. By the end of their journey, Jaera was fairly certain her blush was permanently imprinted on her skin.

* * *

Twelve days of traveling with Golden Sands people had helped accustom Jaera to bare skin—horseback riders wore snug breeches and bound their chests for comfort, and everyone else wore skirts with nothing above the waist at all—but it was still a shock to reach Sunrise Shore and be surrounded by near-nakedness. Everywhere Jaera looked, she saw someone's bony knees or soft breasts or muscular arms. She was glad that her role as tribute required her to keep her gaze submissively low.

The captain had referred to Sunrise Shore as a camp, but there were many wooden buildings. Jaera was brought to one she'd heard referred to as the tribute house. She'd expected something like a dormitory or a barracks, but it was in fact a comfortable home not too different from the farmhouses of Tall Pines, with an open central room used for meals and two private spaces for sleeping. One bed was for Jaera; the other was shared by her two guards, Frona and Karuo. A guard was always awake and alert, making sure Jaera didn't try to escape—though Jaera, her imagination inflamed by Captain Daruni's tales, had no desire to escape at all.

Jaera had expected further training, but Captain Daruni had many other duties now that she was reunited with the queen and her army. "You know what you need to know," she said. "Telling you anything else would ruin the surprise." With those tantalizing words, she left Jaera to wait for the summons from the queen.

She didn't have to wait long. After two restless days and nights in Sunrise Shore, Jaera was roused by Frona knocking on her chamber door. "Time to be up, my lady," she called. "You've an audience with the queen in an hour."

With shaking hands, Jaera pulled on her skirt and straps, omitting underclothes as the captain had instructed. She ran her fingers through her short hair to fluff it out and splashed cold water on her face to shock herself out of her nerves. Karuo made her eat a bowl of plain porridge. When Captain Daruni arrived with the rolled-up treaty tucked under one arm, Jaera was as ready as she could make herself.

"Lady Jaera," the captain said formally.

Jaera clasped her hands behind her back, bowed, and kept her eyes low. "Captain Daruni."

Without another word, the captain turned and led the way, and Jaera followed, her guards at her heels.

She snuck glances up now and again but saw very little of the building that housed Queen Feluri's winter court. Captain Daruni led her to a door where guards snapped to attention, and then they were in what seemed to be a long room curving off to the left and right. They continued forward, through another door, and out into a courtyard that was open to the sky. The building itself was a ring, Jaera thought, with the courtyard at its heart.

Sand crunched under their feet and the morning sun slanted down, warming her skin. She heard voices murmuring; of course, there would be courtiers in attendance. She wished she could look up and see how they were looking at her, or even whether they noticed her at all.

The captain stopped and stepped to one side. Jaera knew she must be before her new queen. She squeezed her hands together at the small of her back and desperately tried to keep her gaze fixed on the patch of sand in front of her.

"Kneel," the captain said softly.

She sank slowly to her knees, her posture impeccable.

"Honor."

She pressed her forehead to the ground. The soft sand cradled her breasts, gently chafing her nipples.

"Rise."

She came to her feet. She had a terrible suspicion that sand was stuck to her forehead and her chest, but didn't dare brush at it.

"You may look at me," a low, relaxed voice said in front of her.

Jaera raised her eyes and beheld Queen Feluri for the first time.

The queen was not the giant warrior she'd expected, but a middle-aged woman of middling size whose hair was streaked with gray. Her scars were a map of the battles she'd fought, and her powerful muscles testified to how she'd won. She was barefoot and unarmed but did not look the least bit vulnerable. She sat crosslegged on an unadorned wooden platform, her crimson-dyed skirt covering her thighs and one leather strap threatening to slip off her shoulder, and studied Jaera closely. 

No, Jaera realized, Queen Feluri's muscles weren't how she'd won her battles. Those piercing eyes spoke of a sharp and calculating mind capable of brilliant strategy and canny negotiation. In the revealing clothing, Jaera already felt naked, but Queen Feluri's gaze seemed to flay her down to the bone.

Jaera flushed deeply and dropped to her knees again, her head bowed, her awe unbidden and sincere. 

"How sweet," the queen said, gentle and amused. "You may speak."

Jaera took a deep breath and recited the formula she had memorized: "Queen Feluri of Golden Sands, on behalf of Raela of Tall Pines, greetings. I, Jaera daughter of Raela, humbly present myself as tribute to you, most gracious and mighty queen. My body is yours and my life is yours, in gratitude that you have spared the bodies and lives of the people of Tall Pines. I beg you to accept this tribute and seal the treaty between our peoples." Then she pressed her forehead to the ground again, shut her eyes tightly, and waited to learn her fate.

She heard the platform creak, and then footsteps soft in the sand next to her. The queen circled her once, then bent over her and brushed a hand down her back. Jaera shivered. A few of the courtiers whispered and someone muffled a laugh.

Queen Feluri knelt in front of her, and Jaera could feel the sudden coolness on the skin of her back as the queen's shadow blocked the sun. She leaned down and, to Jaera's complete shock, slowly licked a stripe down the back of Jaera's neck, savoring her sweat. The touch seemed to light sparks inside of Jaera, and she could feel sudden wetness between her legs.

"My captain tells me you want this," the queen said softly.

"Yes," Jaera said. "More than anything."

There was a rustle of cloth, and something brushed against Jaera's head. She realized the queen had removed her skirt. The courtiers were no longer whispering. It was so silent in the courtyard that she could hear seagulls calling from down by the shore.

"Show me," the queen said, and she dug her hands into Jaera's hair and pulled Jaera's face to the musky join of her thighs.

Jaera's eyes flew open, her senses assailed by new scents and textures. The triangle of hair before her was rough and shaggy, and Jaera wasn't sure how to find her way through it to the center of pleasure. Thinking of how she explored her own body at night, Jaera brought her tongue low and licked up, finding the seam that parted the queen's fleshy lips and exposed the slick, tender skin she sought. She was rewarded by Queen Feluri pressing against her mouth, nails scratching against her scalp, and by the rich taste of her nectar, half animal and half ocean.

Jaera longed to plunge her fingers into those heated depths, but she kept her hands behind her and used only her mouth, working her tongue upward to find the queen's bud. Tentative at first, she became more bold as the hands in her hair directed and encouraged her, licking and sucking with all the yearning and hunger that had built up inside her over the years. This was what she was made for. This was what she had always needed. A lifetime of other people bowing and kneeling to her was erased by the perfect rightness of her knees in the sand, her skin exposed to anyone who might look, and her face nestled between the legs of the warrior queen.

Queen Feluri ground herself against Jaera's mouth, moaning, as Jaera lapped at her, caressing the tender bud with her tongue. The queen's scent in her nose was shockingly arousing, and now Jaera was moaning too, her voice vibrating against the queen's body. Wetness trickled down her thighs. She squeezed her legs together and focused on bringing the queen to her peak.

Before long, Queen Feluri was roaring her pleasure, her scarred, muscled thighs shuddering. She pulled Jaera's head away and Jaera couldn't hold back a little whimper of yearning and disappointment.

"So eager," the queen said, gasping out a laugh as she patted Jaera's sticky cheek. Some of the courtiers laughed as well. Jaera knew she should be more modest, but modesty fell away in the face of how purely fulfilled she was by being permitted to serve the queen. She bowed her head in gratitude, not in shame, and tried to catch her breath.

"I accept this tribute from the people of Tall Pines," the queen said, her voice now clear and carrying. "As you have given me your body and your life, so I will spare their bodies and their lives. Tall Pines is now under the protection of Golden Sands and none may lay a hand upon those who live there. Raela of Tall Pines is appointed governor in my name. So say I, Queen Feluri of Golden Sands."

Only long training kept Jaera from crumpling to the ground in gratitude and relief. She made reverence again, feeling the sand coat her face. "Thank you, most gracious queen," she said fervently.

"You may depart," the queen said. She rested her hand briefly on Jaera's head, then stood and walked away. Jaera heard the rustle of her putting her skirt back on and the creak as she returned to her platform. There was a scratching sound of quill across parchment, the queen making her mark on the treaty. The onlookers' chatter resumed.

"Rise," Captain Daruni said from behind Jaera. She started; she had forgotten the captain was there. Slowly she rose to her feet, aware that she must be quite a sight, self-consciousness creeping back in now that the queen's overwhelming presence no longer held it at bay. As she followed the captain out of the courtyard, she kept her gaze on the ground and pretended that not being able to see anyone meant no one could see her. Her thighs rubbed together slickly as she walked.

"You did well," the captain said quietly. Jaera was warmed by the praise, but what mattered far more was the memory of that final touch on her head, the gentleness of the hand that had so recently gripped her hair.

Jaera had no idea what was in store now that the tribute had been made and accepted. Perhaps she would be the queen's favorite. Perhaps she would be forgotten. But Jaera knew that even if she waited her whole life for the queen to touch her again, she would count it a life well spent.

The queen was not _her_ queen. But forevermore, Jaera would be Queen Feluri's lady.


End file.
